The Goddess and her Knight
by BooksinMyDreams
Summary: This is the tale of the goddess Cora and her knight, Sir Robert. Cobert AU.


The Goddess and her Knight

Legend tells of a goddess whose beauty and reverence that was so pure that her every action was for the benefit of others. She bestowed gifts instead of taking them, healed the sick and dying in the very waters that she guarded. The goddess Cora asked for nothing in return but, in her heart, she longed for love.

One day it came, in the form of a gravely injured knight. Sir Robert Crawley was pale and weak from a battle wound that was surely to be his end. "I must be dying." Robert rasped. "An angel is before my eyes."

Cora chuckles, "I am no angel Sir Robert. Merely an admirer of valiant knights."

"It was nothing." he said modestly, feeling the pain already begin to ebb away due to her mere presence. "You call it nothing? Saving the life of a poor boy from barbarians who sought to desecrate this place. It is far from nothing Sir Robert and for that you are to be rewarded." Cora said calmly but passionately.

"I seek no reward angel only your company before I die." Robert said softly. If this was how he was to be taken, in the arms of the most beautiful woman he had ever beheld then so be it. He had never married, had no children to mourn him, only an interfering mother and a mischievous sister whom he would miss dearly. "You will see them again." Cora said soothingly before a cup appears before his astonished eyes. "Drink." She implores, tilting the cup to his parched lips. Robert obeys, feeling an over-whelming sense that he can't quite name, the pain has gone, and his eyes can fully take in her glorious image. Dark brown hair, long and flowing down her back, the purest alabaster skin. Bright, full lips that a man could only dream of feeling against his own, those crystalline eyes that are looking at him with equal adoration all wrapped in a violet dress which looks as if it has been touched by Luna herself. "Who are you?" Robert asked in wonder. "Whom do I owe my life to?"

Cora beamed. "My name is Cora, Goddess of Life. Guardian of the waters of Avalon."

"Goddess?" Robert stammered in awe. "How can it be? How can you spare me when, so many young babes have died before the sword?"

The words had fallen bemusedly from his lips before Robert could catch himself feeling her pull away like a knife to the heart. "Do you think it easy for me? To see so many lives that I cannot reach in pain? In fear? Do you think that I cannot hear their cries?" Cora gasped, incredulous. "I hear them, I cannot interfere because death has already claimed them!" "You ungrateful, vein, selfish." Cora said hoarsely, fire burning in her belly. Robert was appalled, he had not meant to sound so flippant. "Forgive me Goddess I did not mean to offend you so." Robert said honestly, and Cora cooled. "Yes, well, choose your words more carefully when next we meet they can sound curiously unfeeling." Cora replied with an edge of irked humour, slowly helping him get to his still bewildered feet. "So, we shall meet again Goddess?" Robert asked feeling hope rise in his chest at the thought.

"Perhaps." Cora replied teasingly. "Goodbye Sir Robert." She uttered with care before leaving him utterly alone and wonderfully breathless.

The days turned to nights and nights to days but, he could not get her face from his mind. He would see her before him and they would share glorious, radiant, kisses that would shake him from his core. _What cruelty_ he thought, to make me dream of her when it can never be. Still, Robert found himself sitting at the place where she had saved him. "This is foolish." Robert muttered. "She has the gods at her feet why would she appear to me again?"

However, no sooner had he said the words than she was before his eyes chuckling away at him. "Would I not Sir Robert?"

"Lady- Goddess Cora." Robert said amazed. "It is an honour to be in your presence."

"The honour is mine." A gorgeous rose blush crept upon Cora's cheeks and her heartbeat grew steadily faster with every moment that passed. "How is your wound?" she steadied herself. "Healed." Robert said gratefully. "Thanks in no small part to your kindness dear lady and for that I owe you everything."

"You owe me nothing." Cora replied. "Except perhaps, the pleasure of your company from time to time?"

They began to walk alongside each other in a steady pace. "Of course." Robert said brightly, his shirt glimmering in the sunlight as he gazed into her eyes. "But, why would you want to spend your hours with me when you could be up there?"

An air of sadness filled her eyes. "It is a lonely life. To have the gaze of gods upon you knowing they will only use your bond for power and fill your bed with mortal women. It is not the kind of love I seek, nor desire to inflict upon another."

"Surely there must be someone?" Robert said in disbelief. "You are beautiful and kind, selfless above all dear lady. Anyone who cannot see that is a fool."

"There is only you." She whispered like a child. "My only friend."

He bent his lips to her hand and kissed it lingering for a moment. Cora felt her lungs might expire, despite immortality. He smiled as he considered her eyes. "Friends we shall be. Always."

As it often does, friendship blossomed slowly into the deepest love. They spent every moment that they could together holding each other until each time she was called away.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way." Cora said sadly, a tear falls, and Robert kisses its track. "I wish I was mortal." "I want to be with you. My darling Robert." He pulls her gently, closer so that their foreheads are touching. "There must be a way… there must be something." Robert said searching her eyes desperately but, he saw nothing but resigned sadness in her. "I love you Sir Robert Crawley. I shall never forget." Cora breathed out before sealing the declaration with a passion filled kiss . It is long, searing making them feel both anguish and pure, true euphoria. "I love you so." Robert promises, clutching her hands in his. "I wish to never be parted from you. I would devote my life to you and our family if I were blessed enough to be your husband. I would wake you with kisses and chase away your nightmares. I would kiss and hold and love you all the days of our life."

Cora's eyes were radiant. "I wish it could be true." She said lovingly. Suddenly, a familiar voice fills the air. Her mother's.

"It can." Martha appeared to them. Mother and Goddess of Earth. "From the day you were born you have asked for nothing my child. No gold, no glory, or offering in kind. Of my two children it is you who I treasure most my sweet baby. And that is why I give you my gift."

"A gift Mother?" Cora was confused.

"He promised to love you all the days of your life. And I assume in the after?" Martha quirked mischievously until he answered. "Always. You have my bond." Robert swears before returning his tender gaze to Cora. "Knights. So dramatic." Martha laughed haughtily before turning to her daughter.

"I give you Cora, the daughter I hold so dear the gift you have given so unselfishly to others. The gift of life. A mortal life. May you be surrounded by joy and laughter and the love of my future grand-children and when the time comes you will both take your place with us in the heavens."

"Oh Mother." Cora cried. "Thank you."

"I'll watch over your people and this place until you return." Martha promised. "Be happy my children." Her voice echoed before she disappeared in a serene white light leaving the couple to their new life.

"Robert," Cora is elated. "I am mortal." "Oh Robert! I'm mortal! I can eat, real food and sleep in meadows and I can kiss you. Oh, I can kiss you for as long as I desire." She practically purred at that before he kissed her breathless, spinning her around in his arms. "You can marry me." Robert said as a loving suggestion before setting her down for the briefest moment to produce his grandmother's ring.

"Cora Goddess of Life and of my heart, will you do me the greatest honour in becoming my wife?"

"Yes." "Yes." "Mm. Yes." Cora gasped before they lost themselves in kisses.

Their life was full indeed as they were blessed with three daughters each as radiant and kind and reverent as their mother. Lady Mary, Lady Edith and Lady Sybil and a son Daniel Robin Crawley. They knew of their origins and that they too would be given the same choice when the time came.

Though Robert and Cora grew older their love for each other burned as brightly as the day it was born. It is said that they died together, painlessly and in each- other's arms before joining the other gods in heaven as they had promised. The Tale of the Goddess and her Knight still resounds in the hearts and minds of young lovers who sit by the waters today.

"Hmm. It is quite a tale isn't it my dear." Cora chuckles, as her husband twirls her in his strong, godly arms. "The Goddess and her Knight."

"Yes," Robert said enchanted. "And it shall never end."

"Hmm." Cora agreed. "Tell it to me again." She asked softly, melting against his chest. "Please dear knight?"

"As you wish darling." Robert replied. "Once there was a beautiful goddess…" he began.

 **I hope you enjoyed. Please review.**


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